Cars for Canines
by Dr. ET
Summary: A rather random crossover of two Disney/Pixar films. Mittens, Rhino and Bolt find very peculiar animals who are named Lightning and Sally...sound familiar?
1. On That Late Afternoon

"Fetch, Bolt!" Penny yelled, throwing the Frisbee toward the direction of her dog.

The dog barked and began running after the flying disc and then catching it with his mouth. He let a out a victorious yelp and ran toward his "person", as he called it.

"Good boy!" she said, stroking the furry creature's neck.

The dog barked happily.

Both the animal and the human laughed. Spirited, joyful laughter.

The dim late-afternoon sunlight cast a shadow on their rural home. And from a nearby tree, down climbed a black cat, very familiar to the dog.

Slowly, she walked towards Penny and yawned.

The dog smiled at the cat and the cat, well, remained rather coy.

Penny giggled. "I'll leave you two alone." She said. And after a few seconds, did.

"What is it, Mittens? Something wrong?" Bolt asked.

Mittens turned away for a moment and looking back at him, she said: "Well, now that you've mentioned it…"

"Hey, guys!" a voice suddenly said.

Both the animals looked down and saw Rhino, the hyperactive hamster.

"Please be a little quieter, Rhino. Mittens was saying something." Bolt instructed.

"Oh…okay!" he whispered, still full of energy though.

"So, what was bothering you?" Bolt asked.

Mittens was quiet for a moment, then as if trying to remember she took a breath and said: "I had this really weird dream." She said.

"Dream?" Rhino scoffed. "Come on, we all know-" he then saw Bolt staring quite hardly at him and said: "Sorry! Continue." In a whispery tone.

"Well…" Mittens began.


	2. The Glowing Cloud

"…I was walking on a barren road, with buildings on the side. The sun was up and I could hear noises, but I couldn't see anyone."

"Go, on." Bolt said.

"Then someone shouted, 'If you don't want to go, then don't, Sally!'" Mittens said.

"Sally? Who in the world is Sally?" Rhino wondered out loud.

"Rhino…" Bolt said.

"Sorry!" the hamster returned to whisper.

"Then a higher voice said, 'I can't Lightning, I have- I have things I need to do here.'" Mittens continued.

"Lightning? Now who could that be? I mean, isn't that like somebody trying to copy your name?" Rhino broke the silence.

Bolt looked at Rhino in the same manner.

He quieted down, still wondering.

Bolt cleared his throat.

"Anyway…" Mittens said, as if tired of Rhino's presence. "After that, I heard something fall and a car screeching away."

"Then what happened?" Rhino said. Bolt saw Rhino give him a thumbs (or whatever hamster's fingers are called) –up.

"I saw the sky quickly darken, and a star zoomed across it. Then I heard the same high voice say, 'I wish me and lightning could spend more time together.' And then I woke up. Any of you guys know what that might mean?"

"Hmmm…" Bolt and Rhino said in unison. They both scratched their chins, thinking.

Rhino went in around circles.

Bolt looked around and then back at Mittens.

Suddenly, a look of realization came upon the two boys' faces.

Mittens waited for a response.

"I got nothing." Bolt said.

Mittens turned to Rhino.

"Nope." He shook his head.

Mittens sighed. "Oh, well. I guess it's just something my mind imagined." She said.

Just as the three were about to enter the house, something lit up in the sky.

"Huh?" they all looked up. They saw a glowing cloud. Kind of like how a volcano looks like when it erupts at night.

The cloud exploded with no sound, and two very sparkly stuff shot off in different directions.

"What?" Bolt and Mittens both said.

"An amazing display of Nuée Ardente!" Rhino exclaimed.

Bolt and Mittens didn't know if Rhino just wanted to rhyme with silly words, or if whatever he said was real, they just stared at the beautiful lights in the sky.

The cloud started dimming suddenly. They saw the sparkly stuff return. And it was heading their direction.

"AAHH!!" Rhino and Mittens screamed and ran. But Bolt stood his ground. He saw the sparkly thing going closer, but he saw it start to slow, and that's why he didn't run.

He growled lowly and saw the light race toward him. It became faster and faster…

"BOLT!" Mittens screamed.

And then the light hit Bolt. He coughed. He was alright.

"Whoa…what is it?" Rhino ran closer.

"I don't believe it…" Bolt said in awe.

Both Rhino and Mittens came closer.

"Wow…" Mittens gasped.

"Yeah, wow…" Bolt said.

In front of them all, knocked out on the ground, was a red German Shepard.

And if that wasn't strange enough, it had a yellow lightning bolt on the left side of his furry body.


	3. LightningBolt

"It's another dog… like me!" Bolt exclaimed.

"Cool…" Rhino said in awe.

Rhino rolled closer and started nudging it slightly.

Mittens only watched, but was just as interested in finding this celestial canine as much as they were.

A few seconds into the nudging, the red dog groaned.

"It's waking up…" Bolt said, enticed.

"Oh…what happened?" the red dog groaned. Apparently, it was a boy. And it had just realized that it was being stared at.

"What?" he said.

"You okay?" Bolt asked.

"Huh? Wh-where am I?" it looked up, shaking its head.

"You're in our front yard." Bolt answered. "You, uh, fell from the sky."

"What???" the red dog looked even more confused.

"What's wrong?" Bolt asked.

"This isn't right…wait…who are you?" it asked.

"Well, I'm Bolt, this is Mittens and this is Rhino. Who are you?" Bolt inquired.

The red dog looked up at them. "W-w-wait…wh-what are you?" it asked, still sprawled on the ground.

The three exchanged confused glances. "Excuse me?" Rhino said.

"Y-y-you aren't cars, are you? Y-you're definitely something else!!" he exclaimed.

And, the three yet again, exchanged confused glances.

"Oh, man…I'm having one of those dreams again!" it yelled into Rhino's face.

Rhino trailed forward. "Whoa, whoa, there buddy- this isn't any dream." He explained. "We're all awake."

"Huh? A-a-awake?" it stammered.

"Heck, yeah!" Mittens said. "Of course we're all awake."

"N-n-n-no, I've got to wake up." It said, before attempting to get up.

"Think his head's on too tight?" Rhino whispered.

"Must be the fall." Bolt said.

Suddenly, all of them turned their attention to the red dog, who was actually having a hard time getting up.

"Uh…you, okay?" Mittens asked.

The dog made an effort to stand on all fours. "This, this is one *gasp* weird, *gasp* dream! I haven't got any wheels *gasp.*"

"Wheels?" Mittens said, half curious, half laughing.

"*gasp* Yeah, you know, what we stand on." It said, getting up on its front left leg, shakily.

"Um, no. Actually we stand on legs. You know. These stuff." Mittens demonstrated, walking in one complete circle.

The red dog laughed out loud. "You know, you know I-I actually believed you that time. Ahaha!!! I mean, legs…real funny!!" it said, getting up on its front right legs. Still shaky.

All of them just stared hard at each other. Blinking only twice every two second interval.

By this time, the red dog already stood sturdily on its front legs, but still, no one said anything.

Tumbleweed rolled by.

"Oh, man…you aren't kidding…" then the red dog fainted.

They all walked forward.

"Weird, I know." Bolt said. He leaned closer. "It's his dogtag…" Bolt inspected. "Lightning…"

"Well, what do we do with him?" Rhino asked.

"Hmm…we'll have to take him in." Bolt suggested. He shook his head slowly from side to side. "Poor dog…obviously confused, lost…" Bolt said, remembering himself.

He suddenly felt a paw rest on his back. "Don't worry, Bolt." Mittens said. "We got you down to earth. We can do the same for him."

Bolt smiled at her. "You're right."

"Hurry up!!" Rhino screamed, a good distance away.

And the two carried Lightning in, side by side.


	4. Get Out of It

"No, actually it's a red German Shepard-what? What? No, I don't know where it came from, my pets saved it!" Penny spoke loudly into the phone.

"Could you describe the creature?" the man on the other line asked.

"It's actually got a tag, with the name 'Lightning', he's got a yellow lightning Bolt painted on the side, oh, and wait-there's also a 95 painted on its back-right leg." She said, lifting Lightning's leg as he was lying on her bed.

"Okay, mam, we'll get right to it." The man assured Penny. On the phone, Penny heard a voice say: "We're looking for a client who likes painting his poodles!" two men chuckled. "Don't worry mam; we'll call as soon as we find someone."

Penny sighed and hung up. "Oh, Bolt. I'm not sure I can take care of another dog that could actually be someone else's." she said, sitting down and patting Bolt.

Bolt whimpered comfortingly.

"Oh, Bolt." Penny hugged her dog.

Both suddenly heard a weak growl. They turned their heads to the side.

Through Penny's ears, she heard another growl, but through Bolt's ears, he heard: "Oww…why am I so sore?"

Bolt ran toward Lightning and barked excitedly.

"He's awake." Penny said.

"Hey! Um, mornin'!" Bolt said awkwardly.

Lightning turned his head to see Bolt eye-to-eye. And he saw a dog, not a car like he expected to see. He sighed in hopelessness. "That's it. I give up. When is this nightmare going to end?"

"Hey, hey don't say that. We'll find your person." Bolt assured.

"Okay, how many times do I have to tell you, I don't belong here! I don't know what kind of crazy fairy tale I'm in and whatever it is, I wanna get out of it!" Lightning ranted.

Penny cut the canines' chat by reaching for Lightning suddenly and carrying him in her arms. "Okay, Lightning. I'd better get a picture of you and send post it all over town." She said, cradling the dog and carrying him out, smiling.

"Hey, hey! What? Who is this? Where are you taking me?!" Lightning panicked.

"No, no! She's my person- she won't do anything to you!" Bolt quickly stepped forward.

"Hey! Get me out of here!!" Lightning shifted his head (which seemed to be the only thing he could move properly) from side to side and struggled hard to get loose.

"Whoa! Not so rowdy." Penny giggled.

Lightning though, was not as positive. "Let go of me!" he said.

And with all his strength, he bit Penny's arm.

"Aah!" Penny screamed with pain, dropping Lightning on the ground.

Penny was bleeding. Real bad. She fell on her knees.

Lightning was sprawled on the ground. He was looking at Penny in a way that he realized that he had done something horribly wrong.

Bolt instantly turned to Lightning. "You!!" he said furiously. He charged toward him.


	5. Instinct

"Bolt? You okay, boy?" Penny asked, bending down to see her dog, just as she finished talking to the crazy men from the animal shelter.

Bolt turned to Penny just as he realized he was growling at a wall. He inspected Penny. No wounds. She looked perfectly fine. He then looked back the wall.

His expression became like the time Vinny told him to "turn and pull".

"Bolty…hello?" Penny called.

He blinked a few times and got back to his senses, seeing Penny walk slowly to Lightning's direction.

Bolt's senses tensed. He quickly ran to Lightning and started growling at him.

Penny paused and said: "It's fine, Bolt." Then she just remembered that Bolt brought this dog in, so he should be familiar with it.

Bolt kept on growling.

From the east side of the room, both heard a meow. Mittens came walking in slowly.

"Hi, Mittens." Penny greeted.

Mittens rushed toward the angry Bolt without acknowledging Penny's greeting.

Penny then picked up Lightning and carefully started walking out of the room.

Three steps later, Lightning awoke, yawning and stretching. He lifted his head up, confused.

Bolt growled even more angrily and started barking. Then Penny and Lightning were both out of the room already.

Mittens turned her head to Bolt, asking: "What's wrong with you today?"

"There's something suspicious about that dog." He replied. His growling showed all his razor-sharp teeth.

Mittens was quite shocked. "Suspicious? He hasn't done anything."

Bolt shook his head from side to side. "No. I saw something. He hurt Penny. I don't know if it was a hallucination or instinct, but whatever it was, it wasn't good."

"Well my instinct tells me you're dreaming. This guy's completely lost." Mittens assured.

Bolt retracted his teeth. "Maybe you're right." He said.

Mittens stared at him.

"Okay, you are right." Bolt said.

"Good." Mittens smiled.

And they walked out of the room.

Still, in Mittens's mind, she wondered… maybe Bolt wasn't only afraid of Lightning hurting Penny, but maybe because he was afraid of being replaced.

No. Bolt is as loyal as a dog (which he in fact is). He wouldn't put himself before someone else.

Hehehe…Mittens is good…


	6. Sally Part 1

In a rather familiar spot, miles away from where Penny's house…

"Oohh…what happened?" a female dog whispered to herself. She felt strangely cold and sore. Like she had never before.

It was so dark where she was. Too hard to make out anything but a silhouette.

She got up, well, at least she tried to get up. Because while trying to stand she caught vision of two blue tube-like objects appearing in front of her.

In surprise, she fell back down.

"What?" she said weakly.

While sprawled, she looked at herself and didn't recognize anything. Then she drifted off to sleep…

……

"Good morning, Silverlake!" she heard a voice exclaim.

"Huh?" she said, perking her head up.

"Good morning, Mr. Leandro, our favorite adopter. What can we are interested in today?" a man asked.

Mr. Leandro looked around. "Well, I think I want to get a chinchilla. Poor little things…do you know how they are being treated in South Africa?" he said.

The man paused. "Umm…no. But we have one, it's been here for years…" and the rest were inaudible.

Back in one of the cages, the female dog was still trying to get up. She did successfully on one paw and was attempting a second.

She wanted to worry about standing before worrying about what happened.

Soon, the man and Leandro come back. "I'm sorry for any disappointments, sir." The man apologized.

"It's all right." He said. "But, when I come back, I want-" he suddenly stopped.

The dog-girl (who had just gotten up on her two front legs), was spotted by Leandro.

He walked slowly towards her.

"That…" he began "…that is the most beautiful beagle I've ever seen!"

She whimpered cutely.

"And it's blue…my favorite color. That's it! I'm going to take this one." He said.

He took out of the cage.

"What should I name you?" he thought.

She barked. "I already have a name! It's Sally!"

He lifted Sally up. "Oh my word, that is the most intricate fur pattern I have ever seen!" he referred to the tattoo-like lines on the beagle's back feet.

He opened the cage and picked her up.

Sally, though, was not in the mood for being a pet. So she made a jump for the door.


	7. Sally Part 2

"Hey!" Leandro let go of the pup and saw it go for the ground.

Sally landed on the floor with a thump. She lifted her weight from the floor and got up on her two front legs.

Unfortunately, that was as far as she could go with her new body. "What am I?" she finally asked herself.

The man beside Leandro picked Sally up. "Okay, sir." He said, handing the dog to Leandro.

Sally whimpered. With no idea how to move around, she could only wait for what this guy had in store for her.

Leandro grinned and while walking out of the store, he said, "I'm coming back next week- be ready!" he reminded the owner.

Sally, cradled in the man's arms, looked up and saw Leandro's expression. It looked sinister, actually, even for someone who has no idea how to stand.

Leandro looked down suddenly. Their eyes met. Sally was- can you believe it- struck with fear.

He raised the beagle up in the air while walking towards his car. An evil smirk came to his face. "I'll name you Sally. And I'm sure you'll LOVE it with me…" then he stepped into his all-black car.

Well, for Sally, the only thing good that came out of being taken by Leandro is that he coincidentally got her name right.

But as she was rested on Leandro, she was thinking of someone special in particular. She studied herself one more time. She remembered Leandro calling her a "dog".

With the fact that she didn't know what she was, she felt like drifting away into a dream.

Or maybe a nightmare.

She began thinking of that special someone a few seconds before falling asleep. "Lightning…" she whispered. "…I wish you were here…you'd wake me up from this…"


	8. Three Minutes is Awhile Enough

"Okay, that's enough. Come on, Lightning." Penny put down her camera and carried Lightning down to the ground. The red dog seemed to be able to stand on his legs now.

Lightning lay down on the floor, sleeping.

Penny noticed Bolt and Mittens standing at the front door of the room. She walked over.

"Heya, guys." She patted our heads with her free hand.

Mittens purred and Bolt kept a straight face.

Bolt's expression made Penny stop for awhile. About twenty seconds. "Um, okay. I'll just get these pictures printed. Could you keep Lightning company for awhile?" she asked.

Mittens meowed and walked over to Lightning slowly. Bolt paced ahead, keeping the same face.

"Okay, then. Bye!" she said. And walked out the room.

Bolt growled. "I can smell his danger…"

Mittens cut in. "He's asleep! Besides, do you really think a lost dog would have the nerve to hurt Someone as nice and kind as Penny?"

Bolt eyed the sleeping dog. Well, he did look a lot less dangerous asleep.

Or maybe he didn't look dangerous at all. Maybe it was just Bolt's own opinion.

He remembered-he thought Mittens was an evil affiliate of the green-eyed man. But she was his friend too.

Maybe more than a friend…

"Bolt?" Mittens suddenly chimed.

"Yeah?" he reacted.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Bolt blinked twice, realizing that he wasn't looking at Lightning anymore. "Oh, nothing just-" he cut his sentence short and looked back at the dog lying on the floor.

"Maybe he is a friend," he thought. "Maybe we can help him…"

It was silent for about thirty seconds.

"Bolt, look!" Mittens signaled. Lightning was waking up.

Getting up, Lightning groaned. He seemed to be doing a lot of groaning while he was there.

Now he was up on all fours. Opening his eyes to see Bolt and Mittens staring at him. He jumped back in surprise.

"Ah! Are you guys spying on me?" he exclaimed.

"No! We were just checking if you were okay." Mittens assured.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"About three minutes." Bolt growled. A little angry for an answer if you ask me.

"Oh…" he said, a little disappointed.

Bolt suddenly saw a black paw appear in front of his face and pull him to the side. Before he knew it, he was facing the other way, face to face with Mittens.

"What?!" Bolt whispered. "I didn't hurt him or anything."

"I know you didn't but could you be a little more sensitive? (Even though I know you already are) This guy's lost." She suggested.

Lightning looked over from his place. "Um, can go? I seem to be interrupting something."

"Oh, no. Just stay there, but don't leave." Mittens instructed, leading Bolt a little farther.

Mittens and Bolt turned to each other.

"What can I do?" Bolt asked.

"Ask what you would normally ask a dog separated from his master."

"Like what?"

…this might take awhile…


	9. Car

The following eight lines are spoken in an alternating order. First Mittens, then Bolt.

"Come on, Bolt."

"No."

"Please?"

"Why don't you do it?"

"You're both dogs. You can relate."

"I don't know…"

"It's just a simple question."

"Fine…" Bolt turned around to talk to Lightning.

Lightning wasn't minding them anymore, he was up on the window sill looking at something.

After exchanging glances, Bolt and Mittens ran forward to him.

Popping up on the right side of Lightning, Bolt asked: "What are you looking at there?"

Lightning swallowed hard. "What's that?" he asked, gesturing with his head.

Mittens and Bolt looked to the direction Lightning was looking. Mittens responded "It's a car."

Lightning swallowed hard again. "C-car?" His heartbeat raced. Why was that word so striking.

The red dog held his head.

"Is something wrong?" Bolt inquired. What am I saying? Of course there's something wrong, he just got separated from his person.

"No, wait." Lightning jumped down from the sill. Bolt and Mittens followed.

"What am I?" Lightning turned around to ask them. "Look at me and tell me what I am."

"You're a dog. A red German Shepherd, seven years old by the looks of it, and you've got paintings all over you." Bolt said, almost bragging.

Lightning stopped listening after "dog". He took two steps back. He stared at his paws. "And what do you call these?"

Now everyone in the room was as confused as each other. "Paws," Mittens began. "They're attached to your legs."

"See?!" Lightning suddenly screamed. "I'm a car!! I don't know what any of you are talking about!" Lightning started circling the room. "I'm supposed to have wheels! Dogs aren't supposed to be talking-and nothing should look like THIS!!" he screamed in the air.

Saying so, while Mittens and Bolt were following him, they all saw him at the entrance of the room.

"No way…" he said. "It's-it's…Lightning McQueen!!"


	10. Conflict spells LIGHTNING

Mittens looked at Rhino. (He was the one who said that.) "How long have you been standing there?"

"About ten minutes or so, nothing fun to watch." He explained.

"You know this dog?" she asked. And it seemed very familiar…

"Of course I know him! He's the star of that cool movie! Um, Cars! Yeah!" (I don't own Cars or Bolt.)

"What? NO!" that only made Lightning angrier. "Yes, I am Lightning McQueen, but I am not part of a TV show."

Rhino stopped. "Of course you're not…" he said quietly.

They all remained silent.

"I've got it!" Rhino stared running out of the room and to his permanent spot on the couch. But he went to the farther end, DVD's.

The three moved their heads up to see what Rhino was doing. He was rummaging through stuff on the DVD's.

"I got it!" he cried. He held it up as high as he could. A DVD case. It read, "Cars".

We raced forward.

True enough, there was a car on it, but it had a face, plus it was animated.

"See?! See?!" Rhino jumped around, holding the case.

"No way…no way…" that seemed to be Lightning's word of the day.

He put a paw on the cover. "That's me…" then he looked at the side, there was a blue car on the other side. "Sally…" he whispered.

Mittens felt like she was hit in the head. "Of course!" she destroyed the dramatic silence.

"What?" Bolt asked.

"My dream," Mittens began. "Lightning and Sally!"

Bolt remembered the other night. Now they believed Lightning fully.

"So, you used to be a…car?" Bolt asked.

"Yeah…" he looked at his paws. "But, I remember that on the night me and Sally fought…there was this shooting star…"

They were all silent and unmoving for awhile.

"Do you think that the star turned you into a dog…in our world…magically?" Did Mittens just say, magically?

"I remember wishing that she wouldn't bother me anymore…" Lightning said, almost crying. "And then, this…" he pushed the DVD away. He didn't want to see his car-self.


	11. In the Middle

Bolt put his paw on Lightning's shoulder. "You used to be a car…we're with you on that, right guys?" Bolt looked at Mittens and Rhino.

"Yeah!" Rhino said enthusiastically.

Mittens was a little hesitant. But she said, "Yeah, we're with you." anyway.

Lightning looked up at Bolt. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means, we're going to help you get back to where you really come from." Bolt assured.

"What? Really?" Lightning's ears perked up.

"Course." He replied. Bolt might have no experience in anything magical, but he was lost once, and he was helped by total strangers and brought back to earth. "Don't doubt it, Lightning."

A smile grew on Lightning's face. "Th-thanks…" was all he could sputter. There was a little crying in his voice.

"Yes! A new mission for Bolt and Rhino! Haha!" he jumped up. Then he looked at Mittens. "Oh, yeah. And Mittens."

Bolt, Mittens and Lightning laughed.

The door suddenly swung open.

"Okay, just put the groceries on the table, honey." Penny's mom instructed.

Penny walked in with a handful of paper bags that seemed to be filled up. She turned at a forty-five degree angle and put the bags on the kitchen table.

She wiped her hands on her jeans and was about to go out to help her mom when she turned to her left and noticed her pets who were all bunched up in the same place in the room.

She couldn't help but come over to them and cuddle them up.

They all watched as Penny kneeled down and put her arms around all of them. Rhino was on the very right and Lightning was on the very left. Bolt and Mittens were squished in the middle.

"Hi, guys. It's so nice to see you all getting along." She loosened her grip and Bolt and Mittens smiled at each other.

Penny straightened up. "Don't worry, Lightning. We gave your pictures and details to the police station." She gave Lightning a quick hug. "We'll find your owner."

"Honey! I need some help over here!" the voice of Penny's mom went up in the air.

"Okay!" Penny signaled. "Be right back." Then she headed for the door.

Mittens looked at Bolt. "You okay, Bolt?"

Something in Penny's sentence made him speechless and thinking deeply.

Bolt felt like he was stuck in the middle of being a good friend and a loyal dog.

He then turned to Mittens with a tear in his eye. "I can't do this Mittens." He said. "I can't leave Penny again…"


	12. I Think Thought I Lost You

The door suddenly swung open. "Okay, Mr. Leandro, here the DVD's I rented. I really wasn't able to watch them all." Penny, her mom and some blonde guy who they've never seen before, walked in.

"Oh, it is absolutely fine." The man shifted his glasses. "Just come by my place any time you want to watch more movies."

"We'll do that." Penny' mom smiled.

Penny looked at her pets and moved on in. "Guys, this is Mr. Leandro. We rent DVD's from him." She introduced the blonde man to her multitude of animals.

The man grinned at them in a sort of out-of-place expression. He took sight of Lightning and stared for awhile. "That dog…"

Penny looked at him. "What?"

"Um, never mind." He stopped.

Leandro looked back at the two people and started bringing up some conversation.

The pets just stared blankly.

"Bolt," Mittens nudged the dog beside him. "there's something about this guy that bothers me…" she said.

Bolt's eyes tensed. "You're right. Right Rhino?"

Rhino looked at them saying, "Huh?"

Obviously not paying attention.

Bolt and Mittens were eyeing Leandro carefully. Then they heard a low growl.

Turning their heads to the direction of the sound.

"Lightning?" Bolt said in a questioning tone.

An angry clinch was on Lightning's face. "That guy…" he growled. "he's done something…" he growled again, angrier.

"What?" Bolt and Mittens said in unison.

Just then, Lightning pounced for Leandro with both paws forward and his fangs showing menacingly.

Leandro was in the middle of saying something when he was tackled by the red dog.

"Woah! Hey!" he screamed, sprawled on the ground.

Lightning began barking angrily at him.

"Get off, Lightning!!" Penny commanded. She ducked in and grabbed him.

Lightning didn't seem to try and pry himself from Penny's arms but still kept on barking at Leandro.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Leandro. I'm-" Penny apologized.

"Wait." Leandro began getting up. He walked closer to Lightning in Penny's arms.

Lightning seemed to have calmed down as their eyes met.

Leandro walked a few steps closer.

"Lightning?" Leandro spoke lowly. "Is that you?"

The dog looked a little confused. To Bolt and Mittens, the face read: "Wait, I'm not sure…"

Then Leandro pulled out a leash, it was a blue leather leash with a golden hook at the end. He leaned down to see Lightning eye-to-eye.

Right now, he was very reluctant to move any closer to the man but something seemed to draw him closer.

Tears formed in Leandro's eyes. "I thought I lost you…" he said, giving Lightning a hug.

Feeling the man wrap his arms around him made Lightning's ears perk up and then he started barking happily practically jumping in joy.

"It's my dog…" Leandro had his arms around Lightning again.

While everyone else was staring confused at the two, Mittens whispered.

"Wait a minute…I thought he wasn't a dog…"

But there he was hugging some blonde guy who they've never seen before.

Something was definitely wrong.


	13. Ruin the Moment

Leandro put the leash around Lightning and he was rubbing his face against the man's right leg with his tongue out.

Bolt was smiling happily at them, inside his heart was filling with utter joy at the sight of a lost dog being reunited with his master.

Mittens totally knew that look. "Bolt! Snap out of it!" she slapped him on the face.

"Hey!" Bolt shook his head. "What was that for?"

"Bolt! This dog's not a dog, remember? Lightning's a car (and he's on a DVD cover…)!"

Realizing Mittens' statement was right, Bolt took a look at him and then at her. "Look at 'em, they're so happy." He said.

"Come on, he's not Lightning's real owner! He has no real owner!" she said.

"Hm, you're right." Bolt said lowly, but then he saw the red dog looking absolutely contented. "Leandro's lying, Lightning doesn't belong to him- but why is he acting that way? A real dog would know."

Mittens did not argue. "I know you're right, but what do you think is happening?"

Leandro's voice suddenly cut in. He had Lightning on by his side obediently staying put.

"I'll be on my way now, thank you so, so much for finding Lightning." He crouched to the dog's level and they went in to a warm hug. "Here's a little something for you." He said reaching into his pocket, taking out a wallet.

Penny was handed a few thousand dollars. She was basically speechless and explained: "Well, I didn't really find him, my pets did."

Leandro closed Penny's hand with the money still in them. "Just take it, finding my dog really means a lot."

"I know what you mean." She could almost laugh.

Leandro looked at Bolt, Mittens and Rhino (who, unbelievably didn't say anything for some time) and stopped for a second.

Suddenly, his cellphone rang in a noisy fashion.

Way to ruin the moment.

"Sorry." Leandro apologized, embarrassed.

He started walking out, thanking Penny and her mom and whispering: "thank your pets for me" and started talking on the phone.

The door closed shut.

Penny sighed. "Well, we did what we had to do." She said quietly.

Penny's mom chimed in. "I'm so proud of you, sweetie." She hugged her daughter before walking to the kitchen.

Another sigh later, Penny went to her pets. She saw them staring almost emotionlessly at the floor. She said, "Hey, your friend's back with his owner now," she patted Bolt and Mittens and retreated to the kitchen.

Bolt and Mittens looked up.

Rhino padded into their vision. "Did you guys see that guy's stare?" he asked, whispering.

Bolt swallowed. "Yeah."

Mittens remained silent.

"Lightning was right," Bolt began. "he has done something…"

"Something evil..." Mittens added.


	14. The King of Irony

Lightning awoke to the sound of a car going over a speed bump.

He squinted, his eyes adjusting to the red light. Where was he?

Getting up, Lightning felt a sharp pain on his neck. Somewhat like a pin.

"Ow…" Lightning held that spot with his paw, soothing the pain a little.

Blinking twice, the dog panned the area. It seemed quite small, and it was hot and stuffy in there.

"Hello?" Lightning took a few steps forward before bumping his head on something.

Lightning jumped back in surprise.

"What the…" he moved closer and nudged whatever he hit with his paw.

Squinting, his vision became clearer and he saw what it was.

"A cage door? What am doing in a cage then?" he ranted.

"Hey," he suddenly heard. From a voice that sounded very well-rounded. Lightning jumped back in surprise, yet again.

"Is anyone there?" the voice went again.

Lightning answered hesitantly. "Uh, yeah."

"I could use some held over here."

Moving closer, Lightning still couldn't see who was talking, but there was definitely someone there.

A few steps later, Lightning saw a black cat in his vision.

"Hey, a dog. Of all things a dog, wow." The cat said. "I could really use some help with this wire." He said, pointing to his lower left leg.

Lightning inhaled.

"Okay…" The cat muttered.

The cat moved his leg forward to the front of Lightning's cage, giving a short cry of pain. Lightning began removing it with his teeth.

"Hi-ouch- I'm Vic." The cat introduced himself.

Lightning didn't look up from what he was doing. "I'm Lightning." He said, a little understandable.

"Lightning, huh? Isn't that ironic." Vic said.

"How so?" Lightning moved his eyes up a little.

"Well-ouch!- I used to star in a TV series called Bolt, until it was cancelled. After that Matt, he's the cat over there in the other cage, (Lightning looked at the cage while Vic was talking.) and I got lost and we were picked up by some blonde guy and here we are." Vic explained.

"Yeah…" Lightning said. Then he suddenly stopped untying the wire. "Wait, did you say Bolt?"

"Yeah, why?" Vic asked.

"Well, you see, I was just picked me up too. I don't really remember what happened, but before that I met a dog named…Bolt." After having his share of talk, Lightning continued untying.

"Was he white, with floppy ears, a bushy tail and was overprotective of his owner?" Vic interrogated.

With the last statement as his solid evidence, Lightning said. "Yes!"

Vic sighed. "I could be the king of irony right now." He said. "You know I was never really nice that dog."

"I see…" with one more clutch of his head in strained effort, Lightning removed the wire and Vic got on all-fours again.

"Thanks. You know this is the first time a dog has ever been good to me, let alone a stranger." Vic said gratefully.

"Just doing my part." Lightning said. And then they felt another speed bump-like jolt.

"So, where are we anyway?" Lightning asked.

"I think the trunk of a car. So as long as we're on the move there's no getting out."

Lightning grinned at Vic's statement. "I know a little something about cars…"


	15. Whadda you care if my right eye is green

This chapter is also a tribute to Paul Newman, who died on the day I started writing fanfics, which is also my birthday. May he live forever in our hearts.

…

Calico circled his trailer in thought. "Are they alright? Have they found them yet?"

The trailer door swung open and a white-haired man in a dark blue suit came in.

"Any luck finding them, Leon?" Calico asked.

Closing his clamshell phone, Leon sighed, "No."

"Oh, no…" Calico massaged his head with his hand. "By this time, they could've gotten anywhere. What do you suppose we do?"

"Well, while we can't do anything, we don't do anything. But let me tell you something, I think we can always do something." Leon replied.

"You're right. Come on, let's go." Calico said as they walked out of his trailer and out to the back of the studio.

From there, Calico immediately spotted something on top the nearby dumpster. A broken white leash.

"Hmm…" he went around the dumpster and saw another broken leash on the side and recognized it instantly.

"Well that was a quick treasure hunt." Leon said his hands in his pockets.

"These are Vic's and Matt's…they didn't look here did they?" Calico complained.

Leon shrugged.

Suddenly a shrill meow cut through the air. Both Calico and Leon looked to its direction.

"How convenient." Leon commented.

Another more painful meow went through their ears and the two sprinted for it, Calico leading the way.

They turned around the corner and ran across the sidewalk closer to the noise and they spotted a suspicious looking man, walking into the alleyway.

Calico tensed. They followed him in and what they saw was not what they wanted to see.

"'Stray cats adoption?'" Leon read the banner hanging above the multitude of cages in the alley. Amazingly it was very quiet, even though there were a lot of people.

The man at the stand saw them and said: "Can I help you gentlemen?" he too had an English accent.

Calico ran towards him. "Actually, yes. I am searching for an all-black cat and a furry gray one."

The man at the stand blinked twice. "Oh, I see you have one green eye. How strange…"

"Don't mind that- just tell me if you've seen one." Calico directed the man's attention from his oddly-colored sight organ.

"Are you taking any type of medication? If you are, it seems to have taken a peculiar effect on you. I am a doctor you know." The man asked.

"What do you care if my right eye is green?! Just tell me what you have!" Calico raised his voice.

"Uh, I'm sorry sir but if you can see from the banner, these are only orange and white cats."

Calico looked up at the much smaller print on the banner. 'Only orange and white cats' well, that was pretty straightforward.

Sighing, Calico thanked the felloe Englishman and went to Leon, who was on the phone.

"Okay," he heard his agent say. He turned to Calico. "Mr. McDowall," he called Calico. "I'm sorry, but we have to go back. We can't delay today's filming."

"Alright." He said. And they walked over to the studio.

Calico prepared himself for working with cat lookalikes.


	16. No Escape

Meanwhile the real Vic and Matt were still inside the trunk of a car.

The things that happened to them while we were checking back at Calico were:

-Matt woke up at the voices of Vic and Lightning (also because he had a nightmare).

-Matt became afraid of Lightining.

-Vic had to talk with Matt for about half-an-hour before he completely understood who Lightning was.

-Matt introduced himself as a Hollywood stuntman.

-Vic says: "Yeah, right."

-And now…

"Reach into the lower right side of the corner of the farthest end of the opening." Lightning instructed.

"Okay…" Vic replied, barely understanding.

"Now, do you feel a latch?" Lightning asked.

"Uh, yeah. I guess so." Vic went on feeling for one.

"Got hold of it?"

"Er, I think so." Vic told Lightning.

"Turn it to the right." Lightning said, a little louder.

"Okay…" Vic repeated.

"And yank it as hard as you can!" Lightning shouted through his cage.

Vic put both his paws down into the space and pulled with all his might.

They were all surprised as the air around them suddenly became a thrust and light entered their domain. They were in some underground parking lot.

"You did it!" Matt finally said, watching intently.

Vic grinned. "Hey, thank the dog."

Matt didn't ever think that he could do it but: "Thanks." He said with a smile.

Lightning, feeling quite proud of himself walked forward, looking up only to hit the cage he was in. "OW!" he cried.

Surprisingly, the cage door flung open as the car continued to trail forward.

Getting up, Lightning felt dizzy, and surely heard Vic and Matt laughing at him. He clutched his head.

In between the laughter, Vic requested: "Hey, now that you're out, how about getting us out of here?"

A little embarrassed, Lightning said: "Sure." He hopped over to Vic's cage on the slowly moving car and went for a latch at the edge.

But as he was working on it, a mountainous shadow loomed over them.

Looking up from what he was doing, Lightning heard Matt ask: "What is that?"

Soon enough, Vic and Lightning were looking up. Faint barking and animal noises filled the air.

Their eyes widened at what they saw.

Hundreds of cages stacked from floor to ceiling; each with a dog or cat inside. The animals trapped were all crying out for someone to help them, but as the garage door closed behind them, Lightning, Vic and Matt realized that there was no escape.

"What is this place?" Vic looked around.

But soon enough, they all found themselves facing some tall man with blonde hair. He fixed his eye glasses and laughed silently.

"Leandro…" Lightning whispered worriedly.

"Perfect…" he muttered.

And the animals who were in the trunk caught one last glimpse of Leandro, before he knocked them all out.


	17. Ready

It was late at night in Penny's house. Penny, of course, was asleep. She had Bolt in her arms with Mittens by her side and Rhino, um, asleep on the couch in front of the TV.

Opening his eyes and letting his pupils dilate in the darkness of the room Bolt got up. He whispered: "Ready?"

Mittens rose. "I think you should be asking yourself!" Mittens whispered, almost angrily, before getting off the bed.

Swallowing hard, Bolt took a look at Penny, who was sleeping soundly. Her facial expression in some far away dream.

He sighed, but kept a straight face. "I'm sorry, Penny." Bolt jumped down silently, his paws padding across the carpeted floor.

Mittens was having a hard time getting Rhino to wake up. She tried nudging him, rocking him, rolling him around and turning the TV on…well actually that one worked.

"Are ready or not, Rhino?" she asked in an urgent manner.

"Yeah, I'm ready!" he jumped up on the cushion and squeezed into his hamsterball. Rolling to the door and next to Bolt.

"Ready?"

"Is that all we're going to keep saying tonight?" Mittens remarked at Bolt's sentence.

Bolt half-laughed.

"Okay, here we go guys." Bolt began, running out of the small pet door.

Mittens followed closely behind him.

Rhino looked back to his spot on the couch and whispered: "Goodbye, TV. I'll see you soon. Gotta go save the world…" he gave it a flying kiss.

"RHINO!" Mittens whispered authoritatively.

"Coming!" the hamster scampered out to Mittens and Bolt. He saw them in the front of their lot looking at the world in front of them. The huge world they were going to face yet again.

"Awesome…" Rhino whispered under his breath.

Mustering up his courage, Bolt sprinted into the darkness of night with his two companions tailing him.

Although he looked alright as ever on the outside, Bolt was having a war in his mind.

"I'm leaving Penny again. I'm leaving her to cry in grief over us being gone so suddenly. Am I letting this happen? Will it be all my fault…no. Penny, I'm doing this for a friend. Just let me go, this once."

And they hitched on the nearest truck into the city, with high hopes of finding Lightning.


	18. Denying the Fact

In a lab in a remote area in the outskirts of Elmwood County, sat Leandro- left thinking deeply about his childhood…

He had in his hands old pictures of him with his dog. His old RED DOG.

"*sigh* Don't worry…I'm gonna get you back…" he began and then looked at the unconscious Lightning, who lay on the steel table in front of him. "…Lightning…"

Leandro began to circle the room, switching on a few [switches?] that he passed. Then he opened a bright fluorescent lamp which hung above the sleeping Lightning.

"Oooh…what happened?" Lightning groaned silently as he began to wake up.

"I captured you and your feline friends and now you're in my remote laboratory in Elmwood." The blonde man answered, not taking his eyes off what he was working on.

Scratching, Lightning suddenly stopped and backed up a little. "What?"

"You heard me, I captured you and your friends and you're in my lab."

Facing Leandro with both of his eyes wide open, Lightning asked in a nervous tone: "You can understand me?!"

One nervous laugh later, Leandro answered, "Yeah."

"B-but I'm an animal." The dog said, getting up.

"Heh. It is weird isn't it? A human with the power to talk to animals…don't you think it's weird?" Leandro remarked.

Lightning didn't answer.

"Well, that was my story." Leandro continued as he turned some more stuff on. "When I was eight, I started to hear voices coming from nowhere. Then I realized, they were coming from my parents' cats. I talked to them a lot, and soon enough I got along like home around any animal."

"…Then, when I was ten, I got my first pet. He was an orange colored German Shepherd dog- Lightning…" Leandro came closer. "…and he looked just like YOU…"

"Me?" Lightning reacted.

"Yeah." Leandro resumed his technical arrangements and such.

"What does that have to do with capturing pets?"

The man looked hardly at Lightning with his answer. "It was during that day. The 26th of November. We were having a cookout. It was a family reunion. Then everything took a turn for the worst. Everything was a disaster. The tree next to the house caught fire while me and my cousin were in the garage with *swallow* Lightning. All of us were caught off guard and before we knew it, we were engulfed in flames."

Lightning (McQueen) could only stare.

"I thought we were goners, stuck under the debris but Lightning (not McQueen) came in and pulled us out. The exit was right in front of us, but then Lightning was still inside. Before I could come back in and save him, the firemen took us out and then the entire thing collapsed. We lost everything. I never talked about it for days. I don't know how many days I spent mourning over him. But when I finally mustered up the courage to go for a second pet, my parents said: 'No.' and do you know why? Because they said it was one of his kinds that almost cost lives. Because some stray dog that invaded our celebration knocked over the grill, causing the entire fire. But it wasn't him! And yet they denied that fact."

The on-the-verge-of-crying Leandro paused.

"So now, here I am. A 30 year-old man grieving over the death of his dog which happened 20 years ago…doing tests on animals to hopefully bring back my precious dog."

"Why can't you just let it go?" Lightning asked, almost angry.

Downed, Leandro didn't answer and restrained the once-a-car dog onto the steel bed.

Ironic, isn't it?


	19. Are We There Now

"This way!" Bolt directed Mittens and Rhino through the moderate traffic.

He was sure, it was easy, he had Lightning's scent.

Swiftly jumping onto the pedestrian lane, the three sped off to the other side, barely escaping the truck that drove right behind them.

Panting, Mittens complained: "Bolt! We've circling this highway so many times I lost count!"

"You're counting?" Rhino screamed through the heavy traffic.

Mittens paused. "No! But it's taking really long, so I'm guessing we've been circling around a lot!"

Bolt sharply turned his head to the direction of a wide, unused tunnel and perked up.

"This way!" he repeated, leading the other two into the tunnel.

The inside of the tunnel was dark, sticky, darker the more you move into it, and it smelled like something I can't say because it would be too rude to do that on the net!

"Eew…" Mittens said.

"Uh, I think just lost Lightning's scent." Bolt said, wiping his nose.

Mittens sneezed. "It's smells like a-"

"HEY! What's that?" Rhino jumpily pointed at a flashing light coming from under some far area in the darkness of the tunnel.

Bolt squinted further and stepped forward.

Soon they were all staring at a tiny hole with a light, noises and the smell of air-condition coming from it.

Bolt took a sniff. "He's in there." He faced Mittens.

"How are we supposed to get in there?" she snapped.

"What about that?" Rhino pointed up at an air vent.

The two looked at him, still pointing.

"You're being extra-vigilant today." Bolt commented.

"I had coffee." Rhino replied.

Mittens climbed up to it. "It's locked guys." She padded back on the ground after announcing.

"Great…now we need someone to get inside, climb up the vent and unlock it! How are we gonna do that?" Rhino though out loud in a troubled manner.

Hmm…Rhino, hamster, ball, hole, vent, open…

At that moment, Bolt and Mittens grinned at each other.

Bolt placed a paw on Rhino to stop him from continually circling and rolling away.

"What?" Rhino looked up at them.

"When was the last time you got out of that ball?" Bolt asked.


	20. Awaiting their Hero

"And as the two remained silent desperately awaiting their hero, he came…like a whispering breeze in the night…like a swift sparrow, ready to catch its unsuspecting prey…then he-"

"Would you just hurry up?" Mittens demanded, cutting Rhino's self-narration.

"The hero is threatened by a-"

"Just hurry up, Rhino! And stop narrating as if someone else is listening!" Mittens said impatiently.

"Okay, okay. Just trying to build up some tension in this smelly tunnel." Rhino snapped slightly.

Bolt hurriedly said: "Don't remind us of the smell, please!"

The hamster quickly pattered away into the vent. He was only four feet into it when he found an intersection.

Rhino pondered. "Hmm…the hero is halted by the pre-hand of making a decision that could affect the entire course of this adventure. The lives his loved ones were in his own paws…"

Then his ears twitched. There was a distant yelp. Coming from the left side of the vent…

"Worry not! Rhino is coming!" he quickly padded into that direction and instantly fell down, hitting the floor with a thud.

"OOF!" Rhino's hamsterball bounced off the ground and went through an open door into a room with dim lights. He rubbed his furry forehead in pain and groaned.

"Where am I?" he wondered.

Rhino was on his back and then he pushed his weight up to try and stand, but then he just landed back on the ground, face-up.

"Oh, man!" he groaned, still struggling to get up on his paws. And when he did, he heard:

"Hey, uh-excuse me! Could you help me out of here?" it was a female voice.

Rhino turned around and saw a blue-ish beagle locked in a cage. She didn't look evil or scheming and she seemed very innocent. So Rhino popped the lid of her containment unit.

The dog shook. "Thanks." She um-thanked?

"Don't metion it. I'm Rhino!" he said enthusiastically.

"Rhino…the hamster?" she asked.

Fast forward…

"So what's your name?" he asked her.

"I'm Sally."


End file.
